What is an old, single person to do, when their health is failing, income is limited, and they cannot afford to stay in their apartment or house any longer? They find themselves in a very difficult position which makes them dependent on others for their care. These are some of the people who can fall through the cracks of the "system", because they have no one to advocate for the as they navigate the system.
I have three questions that I find very difficult to answer.
1) Who are these single people?
Single people are all over the place and often we never think about them. They are the widows, widowers, divorced men and women who never remarry, and the men and women who never married. Often times they live very quite and unassuming lives. Invisible to many of us because, for the most part, they never bring attention to themselves. They go about their business not wanting to draw attention, always paid their bills, worked for years, probably at the same company. For years single people have been vital members of our community, paid rent, taxes, and never wanted to be a burden on anyone.
Then all of a sudden they find themselves old! There income is limited and fixed. Retired with either a little pension or no pension, most live from month to month on their social security. Any savings they might have are slowly being used to keep up with monthly expenses that their social security does not cover. Health insurance is minimal and not always the best quality. Rent, food, medicine and daily cost of living exceeds what they receive on a monthly basis.
The lucky single senior have a family who are close by and are active in their lives. These families can be advocates for them and assist them to navigate the bureaucracy. Ensuring that they receive the services that are available for them, and when necessary the family members will assist the single senior financially, in order to help keep the senior living in the quality of life they deserve and want.
2) What happens to the single old person who have no family to watch over them?
They tend to become invisible. Disappearing from the main stream of life, buried in their apartments and homes, until one day there is a medical emergency. When that happens they come on the radar screen, a case number, and someones' responsibility to deal with them. Usually that someone is overworked and bogged down in a maze of rules and regulations that guide their every action. Very rarely do they get to know their clients as the person they were before they became old and ill. They are only looking at the current facts
These singles, are passed through the system and unless they are physically and mentally capable of standing up for themselves they just exist. They will more than likely need to move from their homes into public senior housing. Living day to day, going in and out of hospitals until the end of their life. What a sad existence.
3) How can this happen in the United States?
These people are our responsibility. Why should they be warehoused in dreary public senior housing? Why is their no housing vouchers available for seniors to live in pleasant and airy assisted living facilities? They have lived and work their whole lives and this is not the rewards they deserve. Congregate and shared housing is a viable possibility for single seniors. There has to be a reasonable and more pleasant living arrangement that can be made for people in this situation.
The problem is here and now, and the solutions available at this time are not really acceptable. The challenge for the Baby Boomers and the X and Y Generation is to come up with a cost effective housing arrangement to accommodate all seniors no matter what their economic situation is in life. We are all entitle have a clean and pleasant home to live and be cared with dignity and grace.
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